Outlook For the S&P 500: BULLISH, Here's Why (Sept 17)

The S&P index, as well as small-cap indexes, indicate this is a good time to be long, or be looking for long swing trades in certain sectors.

Here are the bullet points of why I am bullish on the S&P 500.

-The uptrend is pushing toward new highs. Bullish. Old highs are expected to be broken in an uptrend. It's only when they aren't that there is something to be concerned about.

-Higher Swing Highs and Swing Lows.

-The price recently broke out of a volatile range, and that range should now act as support.

-Had 3 x 80% updays in early Sept. Historically this has produced 13% gains over the next year. Also bullish in the short-term as we track toward a new high and upper channel boundary. (updays are calculated using up volume versus total volume and the total number of stocks that moved up versus total stocks).

-NYSE Advance-Decline line (shown) has moved to new highs ahead of the S&P 500 showing broad-based strength in the stock market. S&P 500 has followed suit making new highs almost every time this happened in the last 80 years.

-Clear line in the sand on the downside: a drop below 2822 could mean falling or ranging prices. I become less bullish and ease off on swing trading on the long side.

The Nasdaq 100 has a similar setup to the S&P 500.

Small caps are testing the top of a descending a breakout. A breakout is bullish as it indicates a more speculative flavor for stocks.

Recently there has been a shift where value stocks are outperforming growth stocks, and small-caps are outperforming large-cap stocks. Monitor these relationships going forward, as they provide clues to where the best-bang-for-buck is when trading individual stocks on the long side.